Come Home
by hurricanecaroline
Summary: He left her. She left him. Now they've learned, matured, and are ready to try again. We all know Sam and Andy are going to end up together, this is my version of how they get there. This time, they're in it for the long haul.


Andy nudged the heavy basement door open. Taking slow, hesitant steps, she heard light breathing coming from below a workbench. Doing her best to keep silent, she crept towards the sound.

"Damnit," she whispered, angry that her boots had chosen _that_ moment to scuff.

The breathing stopped and she heard small feet scurrying away. Definitely the suspect's son, she thought to herself. She kept moving, nervously drawing her gun before rounding each corner. She shook her head, trying to stop her nerves. It wasn't rational, she'd cleared buildings before, but undercover had left her rusty.

She took a deep breath, whipping her gun around the next corner.

"Freeze!" She shouted, recognizing the woman she and Marlo were looking for.

"Turn around… put your hands up!" She shouted with increasing confidence.

When the woman finally turned around, Andy saw the knife in her hands.

"Put it down," she said firmly.

Suddenly, the owner of the small feet, the woman's son, came running out from below the table.

"Drop your weapon!" Andy yelled, trying to subdue the woman.

She holstered her weapon and ran towards the woman, but it was too late. The boy was just out of Andy's reach, and the knife was hurtling towards him.

BANG.

Stunned, Andy turned to where to noise had originated, and saw Marlo holding her gun. Marlo's eyes stayed focused on the woman, who wasn't moving. Andy rushed to her side, turning her over. There was a bullet wound between her eyes.

Marlo picked up the screaming boy beside her and carried him outside without saying a word to Andy.

* * *

"She put away her weapon! I mean, how can you think that's going to work? I don't get it."

She continued, "It's hard to believe that she even got cut loose. I mean, okay, she's probably a fine cop. It's just… It was frustrating. She didn't know I was there. If I hadn't been, that kid would be dead. It would have been her fault."

Sighing, Marlo leaned back in the seat and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh shit," she gasped, "I'm so sorry. I completely forgot you two… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Sam smiled weakly at her.

"I was wondering when you'd remember," he laughed.

"Listen, Andy and I are colleagues now. Nothing more. You're my girlfriend. If your partner made a rookie mistake at work, I want to hear about it," he finished, trying to convince himself of the same thing.

"Okay," she glanced back, sliding her palm over his.

He leaned over and kissed her gently.

"Penny?" he asked.

"Sure," she smiled, squeezing his hand before she let go so he could turn the truck on.

They drove in comfortable silence, both embracing the exhaustion of the day. Marlo stole the occasional glance at Sam, thinking about him as she stared out the window at the dark city. Sam stared at the road, thinking about Andy as he flicked the turn signal to enter the Penny's parking lot.

He put the truck in park and ran around the hood to open her door.

She smiled, interlacing her fingers in his as they passed the familiar parked cars and walked slowly towards the bar.

He pulled the door open for her, intentionally using the hand that had been holding hers. They shed their jackets, greeting their colleagues in the noisy bar.

"Brother!" Oliver shouted, beckoning Sam towards him.

"Beer?" he asked Marlo, little more than an afterthought as he started making his way towards Oliver.

"Sure," she responded, noticing his lack of interest.

Sam reached the bar where Oliver sat, grabbing his friend's shoulder and giving it a playful shake. Oliver held up his beer, tapping his glass to Sam's.

"Are you hap-happy?" Oliver slurred, looking at Sam's shoes.

Sam laughed, waiting for his friend to look up.

"What? I- what?" Sam asked, confused when Oliver didn't look up.

"Are you happy?" Oliver repeated, "because I think you're telling yourself that you're happy. I don't think you're happy. I know when you're happy."

"Yeah," Sam laughed, trying to play off Oliver's accurate concern, "how's that?"

"It's your eyes man," Oliver whimsically rambled, "there's something in them. Or there was. There _was_ something in them. Something that said you were happy. You look happy, but your eyes say it all…" he trailed off.

Sam tried to disregard Oliver's assessment as a drunken rambling, but he couldn't shake it. He couldn't shake the feeling of hurt at Marlo's rant in the car. He trained Andy. Her only fault was that she had too much heart, and he saw that as a strength. Why did Marlo knock her for that? She was her partner after all, it was her job to back Andy up. Maybe Oliver was right. He felt happy, and what he had with Marlo felt right, it felt… adult. It felt like what he was supposed to do.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to shake the introspectiveness from his head. He picked up the two beers, took Oliver's keys, and moved back to the table where Marlo sat.

"Thanks," she said, gulping the beer before he had a chance to set it on the table.

"What was Oliver saying?" she pried gently, hoping to find out what had Sam looking so serious.

"Oh, you know Oliver," he deflected.

Hiding her suspicion, she took a gulp of beer.

"Easy, tiger," he laughed, feigning interest in the woman across from him. He tried not to be obvious as he glanced at Andy. She was throwing darts with Dov, wearing a skimpy shirt and jeans that he loved seeing crumpled on his floor just months earlier. A huge smile engulfed her face as she fended off the two men that swarmed around her. One of them said something and she erupted in a huge, loud laugh. The kind of laugh that used to be his motivation to make it home every day. He grimaced.

Downing half of his beer in one sip, he looked at Marlo.

"You want to get out of here?" he asked, worried she'd noticed his staring.

"Um, yeah. Sure."

She noticed.

When they got outside, she stopped him.

"Sam," she started, sounding apologetic.

She didn't annoy him, he liked her, but suddenly the sound of her voice, the voice that had been bashing Andy, set him off.

"I trained her! I taught her everything she knows! And she has a heart. Maybe she made a judgment call, maybe it was a bad call, but she'd rather talk to the woman than shoot her in the head. She'd rather save that boy's mother than kill her."

"And I wouldn't?" she yelled, frustrated at his implication.

"She has a big heart," he said, deflecting her question.

"And I don't?" she raised her voice again, increasingly frustrated with what she thought were comparisons to Andy.

He shrugged. She was cold. Organized. Methodical. She said and did all the right things, the girlfriend things, but she wasn't warm and affectionate like Andy. She didn't wear her heart on her sleeve.

"Here," he handed her his keys, "I'm walking home. You can take my truck. I'll come get it in the morning."

"Sam! Are we not going to talk about this?" she yelled after him.

He looked back, confused, "I thought we just did."

"You still have feelings for her," she shot back, trying to engage him.

"Maybe I do," he said, just accepting it himself.

He set off walking, inhaling the summer night around him. He smiled to himself. _Maybe I do._

* * *

"It drove okay?" he asked, looking at the truck.

"Yeah," she said quickly, "drove fine."

"Need a ride to work?" he asked, hoping to talk to her.

"Sure."

They got into his truck silently. He didn't open her door. He didn't pick up her bag.

"So… you meant that. What you said last night?" she asked.

"I thought about it last night and… I did. I didn't mean to say it like that. I didn't want to hurt you. Hearing what you said about Andy set me off. I know it shouldn't have, I know she's just coming off of UC and… well I'm sure you were right. I'm sure she made a mistake. I'm glad you were there to cover. It just got me thinking about her and I mean… I'm sorry. It's not you, it's got nothing to do with-"

"Stop! Don't do that. I don't need to hear that. Not from you. If you still have feelings for your rookie, that's fine, Sam. But one day you're going to wake up and realize she's not your rookie anymore. She's going to grow up, and she won't stay chained down," she warned, verbalizing his exact fears.

"Yeah," he said, unsure how to respond.

She unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. There was no goodbye in order. She opened the door, grabbed her bag, and started walking to the station.

He leaned back in the seat and rubbed his eyes, questioning his own judgment. Marlo was safe. Andy was skittish. Had he just lost the right option? The good option?


End file.
